Meyer Briggs and Primary Care

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2. I want to continue working, at least part-time, into my 70s and I don't think it is feasible in anesthesiology.

I'm not sure what you're basing that on. Can you explain?

As for a plan of doing two residencies in a row so that you can practice one for 20 years and then switch to the other, that's a really, really, really bad plan for many reasons. #1 is that regardless of whatever paper certifications you get, you will not be competent to practice IM if you do a residency and then pass gas for 20 years.
 
(i) What is your Meyer Briggs Type?.

ENFJ


(ii) Are you happy with the workplace/lifestyle in anesthesia? .

Yes, especially since the compensation is excellent and there is a wide variety of work environments and scheduling options. Speaking as a licensed private pilot (and frustrated wannabe jet pilot ... an unfulfilled dream due to bad eyesight) I find enjoyable similarities between anesthesia and flying. Both in the thinking processes and psychomotor skills.

If you enjoy flying I think there's an excellent chance you'll be happy in anesthesia, especially if you're a hands-on type of person.

2. I want to continue working, at least part-time, into my 70s and I don't think it is feasible in anesthesiology. Is it reasonable .

I've been in ORs since 1979 😱 Not at all unusual to see folks working into their 70s. Generally speaking, these folks are in academia, or are otherwise not taking call, are not covering trauma, but are either covering residents or doing bread and butter cases, and perhaps only working 2-3 days/week.
 
ENTP

although the I/E was almost 50/50

I'm an intern doing my medicine block so no I'm not happy.

If you invest wisely, there's no need to work 'til you're 70.
 
medicine sucks. if you like medicine you may not like anesthesia.
working in medicine until you are 70 -- sounds like a fate worse than death ;-)


(just kidding)
 
ENFJ… not a common combo

By the way, if I couldn’t do anesthesia, medicine would be second choice probably Pulmonary form there…

I know there is this belief that anesthesia is a great “lifestyle” field but I think private practice docs are working and taking call a lot more than you think. For sure not dermatology hours. Just a hunch…
 
Also, I'm concerned about the fact that anesthesiologists are a replaceable commodity.... in annual "Top Doctor" issues of local magazines, anesthesiologists and radiologists are never mentioned or ranked.

Excellent reason not to chose the specialty. 🙄

Thanks again.

You're welcome. 🙄

-copro
 
Also, your M-B type is ENFJ... I was wondering how strong of a "J" you are. Do you hate it when things are unsettled or undecided?

Please don't base your specialty choice on Myers-Briggs.

Myers-Briggs is based on an interpretation of Jungian theory (ie. theory of one dude who sat in a chair and thought about things) that has no basis in any sort of scientific method. I just don't see how it can be called a valid measure of anything.

I also suggest reading about the "Forer effect."
 
Is medicine really that bad... or is it personality dependent. Is there anything that you enjoy about internal medicine?

Medicine is interesting.

The problem with doing inpatient internal medicine is, the actual medicine part of it is maybe 10% of your day. The rest is social work, calling radiology and labs to make sure stuff gets done, rounding (ugh), returning endless floor pages, etc.

Luckily I'm nearing the end of my 5 month block of IM. Our anesthesia program does 5 months of ward medicine during intern year. I would rather do more ICU time (MICU, CICU, etc.)
 
Although personally the idea is somewhat revolting to me to do a bunch of medicine, I do know that some programs (mine included) will allow you to combine the two and do it in five years. Our Medicine Chair allows you to start a continuity clinic in your intern year and keep it up during your Anesthesia training if you so choose. You then do one more year of mostly medicine after your CA-3 then are (purportedly) eligible to sit for your IM boards. This plan was pitched to many of us when interviewing at my school for a Prelim Medicine year. The offer only stood if we stayed at the home program for Anesthesia training.

His (Medicine Chair's) reasoning is that it's the continuity clinic aspect that keeps most people from being double-boarded in IM and Anesthesia and by allowing you to keep the clinic throughout training you are still keeping options open. According to people I've talked to about this, it is appealing to people who want to do Anesth/IM/CC. I'm not sure I totally understand the appeal, but I have heard that there have been several people do this over the years.

This post has nothing to do with Meyers-Briggs. But kudos to Lord Jeebus for knowing that stuff. Impressive. 👍 I generally find those types of tests to have a high male bovine fecal content as well.
 
...in annual "Top Doctor" issues of local magazines, anesthesiologists and radiologists are never mentioned or ranked.

Thanks again.

Not true... 17 anesthesiologists from Wake Forest were recently nominated to the "Best Doctors in America" database.
 
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